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March 1, 2009

Papelbon Debuts In Sox Win

Jonathan Papelbon made his spring debut, throwing 10 pitches in the fifth inning and getting three outs.

Josh Beckett was also perfect, needing 29 pitches to retire all six batters he faced -- five groundouts and one flyout. Tim Wakefield also pitched two innings. Kevin Youkilis hit a home run in the seventh inning.

Youkilis, David Ortiz, Jason Bay, Dustin Pedroia and Javier Lopez will leave the team tonight for their respective World Baseball Classic teams. Bay remembers playing for Canada in 2006:

When we went the first time, our bracket was in Arizona, and although we didn't move up, we beat the U.S. and that beat hockey highlights on TSN. It's really a no-lose situation. You go in and you don't win, "Hey, you weren't supposed to." If you do like we did a couple of years ago [against Team USA], it kind of makes it that much more enjoyable, that much sweeter.

The rest of the Red Sox visit Fort Lauderdale tomorrow for a 1 PM game against the Orioles. Expected pitchers include: Justin Masterson, Devern Hansack, Billy Traber and Daniel Bard.

Wait, is that last comment referring to the post, which talks about a win, even though there's been a loss since? Or is it sarcastic, referring to the loss as "kicking ass and taking names," since it's a bunch of backups losing to another group of backups that doesn't count?

Yeah, I saw that over the weekend. The long article is amazing -- both wildly informative and crushingly sad. The short piece in the issue is from Pale King, as are a couple of things he published before he died: Good People and Compliance Branch.